History of TV in China

TV in China really began with the creation of China's first TV station, Beijing Television, which began broadcasting on May 1, 1958. After about two years, there were over two dozen stations set up throughout different cities in China. However, during the 1960's little was aired other than news, operas, and random televised thoughts from leader Mao Zedong. In 1967, television productions were basically shut down, and not until 1970 was TV anything but a thought of the past. By 1970, TV broadcasts were on 3 or 4 nights a week, but still, little was being shown at all. Another struggle of TV in China came when the Soviet Union stopped giving China economic aid in the 1960's, which forced many TV stations to close (stations went from 23 to 5 in 60's).

Beginning in the 70's, TV became the fastest growing medium in China. In 1978, Beijing TV became China Central TV, the country's largest and only national network.

By the numbers, TV stations in China grew in number from two to 683 (between 1958 and 1994). Set ownership increased dramatically as well, from a few thousand to 260 million between 1960 and 1994. And from 1975 to 1994 viewers increased from 18 million to 900 million. The great increase in TV set ownership is the fastest increase in the world's history among any developing country.

One of the biggest problems with TV in China is that it is all state owned. No TV broadcasting in China is private or foreign owned. Communist leader, Mao Zedong believed, "Broadcasting must keep in line with the Party voluntarily, and serve the main Party objectives of the time."

Stations in China include:

1 national (CCTV)
30 provincial
300 regional
350 local

Today, every Chinese family has a TV set, and most of the audience watching is urban viewership. In the early 90's statistics showed that 55% of the population watched TV everyday, while only 32% read a newspaper.

In the early days of Chinese TV, it was entirely funded by the government. Advertising did not come into effect until the 1970's.

TV programs consist of four different types:

news - 15%
entertainment - 50%
feature and service - 10%
education - 15%

Though entertainment makes up the biggest percentage of programming, much of the variety currently seen in China did not come in until the 1980's. In the 80's, CCTV even opened an English channel. Today, there are many English channels on Chinese TV.

A unique part of Chinese TV is the education it offers. Millions of college students are able to study from the comfort of their own home because of TV in China. Plus, millions of people learn how to do practical farming techniques because of TV as well.

The positive about Chinese TV is that they are becoming much more open about broadcasts on TV.

In 1986, US Lorimar Products signed a contract with Shanghai TV to provide over 7,000 hours of American TV shows to air on Chinese TV. Now, all stations are looking to other countries for programs. Today, foreign programming accounts for over 20% of the TV broadcast in China. That is a huge jump from 1% in 1976 and 8% in 1982.